Turel
Turel is one of the antagonists from the video games Soul Reaver 2 and Legacy of Kain: Defiance. He was one of the Sarafan inquisitors during Nosgoth's early history, acting as a elite vampire hunter. But then, some thousands of years later he was ressurected as one of Kain's vampire lieutenants in order to help him lead his new vampire empire. He was ordered by Kain, alongside his fellow lieutenant Dumah, to execute Raziel for having surpassed Kain in vampire evolution, which caused the wraith Raziel to seek revenge against his brother. Turel was voiced by Richard Doyle in Soul Reaver 2. Doyle is better known in the series for having voiced Moebius, as well as Anacrothe and Nupraptor in Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen, and later as The Tomb Guardian in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reave''r. In ''Legacy of Kain: Defiance, Turel is voiced by Gregg Berger. Berger is a well known voice actor who lended his talent in video games and animation, having voiced a number of villains: Kraven the Hunter on Spider-Man: The Animated Series, Kingpin on Spider-Man: Web of Shadows, Grimlock in some Transformers ''video games, Darth Maul in the ''Star Wars: The Phantom Menace video game adaptation, Nemesis in Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City, and others. Personality Both as a human vampire slayer and as a vampire lieutenant Turel was a very dutiful agent in his masters' plans. He opperated without question and without any second-thougths, proving himself to be one of the most loyal of the Sarafan and of Kain's sons. This is the most likely explanation as to why Moebius granted him with his anti-vampire magic staff, allowing him to incapatitate Janos Audron during his execution, and why Kain had him cast Raziel into the Abyss, assisted by the similarly devoted Dumah. But Turel was also proven to be self-indulgent and rather self-centered. He personally fought the wraith Raziel on his own and ordering him to back away. Raziel could only be satisfied with his brother's behaviour as it meant that he could finally avenge himself against Turel's future actions, for having thrown him into the abyss and replacing him as Kain's second in command. As the false god Hash'ak'gik, Turel's attitude became vicious and malevolent, as well as exceedingly pretencious, considering how he took pleasure in demanting that his sacrifices be "thraot cut first, blood gouting" and finally being thrown into the pit, otherwise he would reject the sacrifice and bare his wrath upon his followers. In time his massive vanity had almost consumed him entirely, taking pride in the fact that neither Raziel, nor even Kain for that matter, had ever achieved such power as he did. Despite his love of his form he never took any genuine satisfaction in his imprisonment in the pit, nor towards his deification, as he considered it demeaning and would rather have escaped had he a means to do so. In his final moments Turel begged Raziel to end his life and release of him of the long years kept in deprivating madness. In a deleted dialogue from Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Turel speaks of the bond of gratitude he and Raziel share with Kain, which Raziel rejects, denouncing Kain as "one who would have Turel grovel at his gate like a dog". Raziel notes that Turel once held "noble aspirations", which correlates with Turel's revelry at becoming a god in Legacy of Kain: Defiance. Story Soul Reaver 2 Turel was formerly a Sarafan Inquisitor, who hunted down vampires, as ordered by Moebius. He was one of the Sarafan commanders, along with Malek, Raziel, Dumah, Zephon and Melchiah, who raided the refuge of the ancient vampire Janos Audron. They removed his black heart and stole the Reaver blade, destroying his refuge in the process. Turel and the other Sarafan inquisitors (sans Malek) were later killed by the wraith Raziel, who came from the future in order to meet Janos. Raziel's assassination of his brothers and of his past self was ultimately part of a predetermined time paradox which provided Kain with the corpses which would later become his vampire generals. Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver One thousand and two hundred years later, when Kain rises his vampiric empire, he resurrects Turel as his second lieutenant, the others being: Raziel, the first born, followed by Dumah, Rahab, Zephon and Melchiah. Turel, along with Dumah, were the ones who were ordered to throw Raziel into the abyss when he was labeled as a traitor for having surpassed Kain in evolution, obeying the order without questioning Kain. After that, all the vampire clans scattered through Nosgoth. Turel and his clan, the Turelim, moved to the Smokestack, a volcanic area. In time Turel eventually devolved into a more monstrous form, developing chiropteran traits such as bat ears, loud sound generation, elongated limbs, blindness and enhanced hearing. When Raziel was ressurected as a wraith, he went on a journey of vengence which resulted in the death of his brethren. And although he murdered Dumah, Raziel failed to find Turel and instead chased Kain back in time to the era of the Pillaird Corruption. As such, Turel was sparred from the wraith's ire and lived out into an era of "darkness and great hunger". Legacy of Kain: Defiance One day, Turel is brought to the Blood Omen era by the pillar keeper Azimuth, who keeps Turel in the basement of the Avernus Cathedral. Azimuth and the other members of the Circle of Nine believed him to be a deity known as Hash'Ak'Gik, offering blood sacrifices to him to avert his wrath. They were being influenced by the Hylden, who used Turel as a vessel to remain outside the Demon Dimension. In time Turel began forgetting much about his past and starting to believe he was really a god. During the Blood Omen era, Raziel went to Avernus after the Heart of Darkness, wishing to resurrect Janos Audron. He witnesses one of the offering rituals to the Hash'Ak'Gik, led by the necromancer Mortanius. Curious, Raziel approaches the pit, but is suddenly pushed telekinetically, falling into the the great pit where the god resided. Turel smells Raziel, and is taken away by it, believing that he was long since dead. Raziel corrects him and reminds him that he had been betrayed and unjustly killed. Suddenly, Turel remembers about Raziel having killed all of there brothers. When Raziel demands to know what he is, he recognizes Turel by his voice. Raziel is disgusted at his brother's transformation, but Turel takes pride into his newfound state of being. He declares himself a god and claims to have surpassed Kain in terms of power. Turel reveals how he ended in that era, but also that, despite the worship, he despises not being able to leave the pit. He is then suddenly possessed by the Hylden who announce that their release from the demon dimension is well underway. He manages to snap out of the possession, but he is too weak to fight against his possessors, so he decides to kill Raziel and use his blood to recover. Raziel tries to fight him, but is unable to harm Turel. When Turel starts to screech, Raziel hits a large metal plate in the wall, hurting Turel's ears, who were very sensitive to noise. After repeated attacks on his enemie's hearing, Raziel managed to knock Turel into submission and kills him. After devouring Turel's soul, Raziel gained enhanced telekinetic abilities. Powers and Abilities Sarafan Training: As a Sarafan inquisitor, Turel possessed remarkable physical strength, great reflexes and a mastery of various assorted weapons. He was likely trained in tactical thinking and was experienced in the ways of vampire hunting. Vampire Physiology: After having been turned into a vampire Turel gained inhuman levels of physical strength, enhanced reflexes, greater agility and more accute senses, especially of smell and hearing. This would, however, also result in gaining all of the vampire weaknesses, sunlight, fire, impalement, water and anti-vampire magic. : Turalim Powers: As the second lieutenant created by Kain, Turel was the second most powerful, thus having attained a vast amount of spiritual powers. He was highly adapt at telekinesis, able to use echolocation, force waves and homing projectiles. He developed bat-like abilities and traits, much the same way how Raziel had, and although lacking wings, Turel grew massive bat-like ears which grated him greater hearing. He eventually grew to gargantuan proportions, close in size to Zephon. His body, however, was regressed into that of a quaruped with a muscular build and a mixture of both bat and canine characteristics. He walked around with the use of his disproportionate limbs, each having a pair of massive tridactyl claws. His skin became severely wrinkled, with a gray-brown complexion, completely hairless, with purplish veins showing. He was renderred completely blind, having cloudy eyes do to cataracts. As a result, he was forced to rely entirely on echolocation and smell in order to find his away around. This form would likely have made impalement an obsolete method of killing him. Fire, sunlight and water would likely have remained a problem. Instead, his greatest weakness was ultimately also one of his greatest assets. Because of his sensitive hearing Turel could be hurt do to extremely loud noises, such as those produced from the booming drums that decorated his pit. His limbs, although they allowed him to run at great lengths, also proved inefective at climbing, which is why he could not escape from his pit. Trivia *Turel is Aramaic for "Rock of God", thus denoting his Jewish Biblical inspiration. Turel was also previously known as either "Hema" or "Ruman" (both fallen angels associated with "rage" and "death" respectively). *In early development of Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver, Turel was give nthe names of "Morlock" and "Morlock Boss". The Morlocks are a fictional off-shot species of humans in H.G Wells' novel The Time Machine. They were characterized by their grotesque appearance and savage lifestyle. The Turelim vampires (especially the Tomb Guardian) are also reffered to - in game - as Morlocks on account of their sticking similarities to Wells' creations. *Turel's abscence in Legacy of Kain: Soul Reaver was the result of a developmental oversight on the programmers side. According to Ben Lincoln, Turel was meant to be the penultimate boss of the game before the player advances to Kain. Raziel would have defeated him using a nearby source of water and after having devoured his soul would have gained amplified telekinetic projectiles. The dialogue between Turel and Raziel had been recorded, but only made available in bonus material. Turel's voice actor was uncreditted for the part. Partial dialogue of Turel's was instead repurpossed for the Tomb Guardian character (coincidentaly voiced by Richard Doyle), a Turalim vampire whom Raziel kills by trowing him in a source of water and drains his soul, thus obtaining the telekinetic force blast and projectiles. *Amy Henning of Crystal Dynamics decided to have Turel cast as the malevolent god Hash'ak'gik, first brought up during the events of Legacy of Kain: Blood Omen. The Vampire Turel's absence from Soul Reaver 2 prompted Amy Hennig to allay fan requests for his inclusion; she stated "we absolutely have not forgotten about Turel; he's a critical piece of the puzzle". *In Legacy of Kain: Defiance, the doors leading to Turel's Pit in the Avernus Catacombs are marked with Turel's clan symbol, a hint for players as to the nature of the encounter to come. Turel's symbol can also be found on the torch posts. 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